


A Sky full of Stars

by Azureway



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff, Opposites Attract, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 03:25:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10778544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azureway/pseuds/Azureway
Summary: She wears flowers on her hand, he has the sky painted on his wrist.Both marks signed with their soulmate's initials.Or how can a shy and introverted bookworm and the King's Shield fall in love with each other by exchanging letters through books they love, until fate finally reunites them together.A Gladio Soulmate AUMulti-chapter fanfiction covering pre-game events as well as major parts of the main story, so spoilers warning here~





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really inspired by @nifwrites amazing soulmate AU in the last few days, enough to try myself at my own multi-chapter fanfic. I still have lot to write and add to be able to really flesh out my OCs and their relationships, but consider Ch.1 as an introduction.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @chocobrosadventures

Insomnia was always calm in the morning, at least, in Cassiopeia’s part of town. She was always waking up early, drinking her usual coffee on the balcony of her apartment, in nothing but an oversized t-shirt and some shorts, enjoying the warm breeze on her skin. Inside, she could hear the sound of the shower running, her cousin, Altair, preparing himself to go to work, just like her. He was a couple of years older than her, just turning 25, dedicated to his kingdom and its Kingdom working for an elite group of soldiers known as the Kingsglaive. When she decided to leave her family home in Lestallum to study literature in the grand Insomnia, he welcomed her with opened arms, grateful to be able to spend more time with her as they grew apart after tragedy hit both their families.

As she sipped down the last few drops of coffee from her cup, she went back inside to finally put some clothes on, hearing her cousin, calling for her. “Cassie, am I still dropping you at work today?”

“Shit”, she thought to herself cursed under her breath. She was totally running late, having enjoyed the morning sun a little bit too much. She ran out of her room with her uniform in her hands, dashing to the bathroom to get herself somewhat ready and presentable for the rest of the day. Looking at herself in the mirror, she stuck out her tongue, furrowing her brows in a sign of annoyance. Her hair was a mess of platinum curls, glowing in the light like it was silver, that she braided rapidly. She put a bit of mascara on her lashes, making her sky-blue eyes pop a little bit more and some pearls earrings. Her fingers gently took her mother’s bracelet, a magnificent jewel made of rose gold, that she used to wear every day since she left home. The piece of jewelry was brushing against the tattoo that was ornamenting her wrist; her soulmark. Her mother used to tell her about those special marks, about how everyone, somewhere, has a tattoo that matches another and how the two individuals sharing them have a special bond that cannot be broken. She had hers for as long as she could remember. She knew her cousin had one too, even if he never showed it to her. Hers was an intricate and beautiful design of flowers with two letters, which she could only assume were the initials of her said soulmate. “G. A.” The tip of her fingers brushed the petals of the flowers; her mark hasn’t always been like that. It was growing every year, starting as a little bud when she was younger, until it evolved in this beautiful bouquet. Who was G.A? That was still a question she didn’t have the answer to.

“Cassiopeia, for Gods’ sake, I’m leaving without you!”  
“Sorry Altair… I got lost in my thoughts” the little blonde admitted, running out of the bathroom. She grabbed a book that was resting on the dining room’s table and put it in her purse, closing it and finally ready to go.  
“Daydreaming again, huh? Come on, you can daydream all you want while you’re actually in the car.” Cassiopeia gave him an embarrassed smile as he opened the door, following him closely outside their home and into his car. 

Since she moved in, he insisted to drive her to school or to work every morning, making her discover the streets of Insomnia at the same time. Now that it was summer, she was working full time in a cute little book café in the neighborhood. The place was cute and cozy and she loved that it was offering a complete library of books to their customers to read while they were enjoying their coffee. She actually enjoyed what she was doing, but sometimes, she wished for so much more than this kind of routine.

Gladiolus headed out to the training room, after another hard day trying to convince the prince to get out of his usual laziness and try to get somewhat involved in his training. “Are you also having problems with him, Iggy? Please tell me I’m not the only one he’s giving a hard time to.”

The tall man besides him chuckled, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I’m afraid our prince is going through a rebellious phase.” He answered, earning a groan for his companion. Being the King’s Shield, it was Gladio’s duty to protect the future King, Noctis Lucis Caelum, but also to make sure he was perfectly able to defend himself if needed. Like his father before him, Gladio was tasked to train the young prince and he always took pride in his duty, maybe a little too much. He used to despise his protégé, but grew found of him over the years. He was happy to consider him one of his best friend now, but, Six be blessed, sometimes he found himself frustrated by the attitude more than anything else. He was soon going to be 20 and had to be ready to take his father’s place. With the help of Noctis’ advisor, Ignis, it was their task to make sure he was all ready to take upon the throne.

“I have to drop by Noctis’ apartment after school to hand in the reports from today’s meeting. I’ll probably stay to prepare diner and Prompto’s gonna drop by to play video games. I suppose you’ll join us later?” Ignis asked, as he was heading towards the throne room to meet with King Regis.

Gladio stopped and checked the time on his phone, shrugging as he noticed how early it was. “Yeah, I’ll get there by the end of the afternoon. Got some training on my own to do, but nothing else planned. I’ll see you later I guess.” Ignis gave him a nod as they parted to go their own separate ways. After a difficult morning like this one, he was in dire need of a good jog to get those negative vibes off. 

The owner of the café where Cassie was working was a good friend of her mother and she was able to get a job pretty easily. With her extensive knowledge of books of all sorts, she was an amazing asset to the place as she was able to talk and advise customers on her favorite reads. The place was fairly new, but it was already packed with faithful customers. The library of the café was growing everyday with donations and a little budget they could use every month to order new books. As her cousin finally dropped her off in front of the Café, she waved him goodbye, knowing he’d be home late in the evening.

Heading inside the café, a tall redhead girl greeted her with a big smile. Nova was already working there when Cassie was hired. The two girls soon became best friends and were basically each other’s half. While Cassie was more introverted and calm, Nova had a bubbly personality that made her so lovable. The blonde girl was still surprised at how fast she grew close to her, as she always had a little bit of trouble making friends because of how shy she was. It was even worse now that she was in Insomnia, the big city making it really difficult for her to have an active social life outside of hanging out with her cousin. She was grateful for Nova as she was pushing her out of her comfort zone in terms of socializing. Customers loved to come by just to see her and talk with her as she was preparing their coffee. Nova was a much better barista than her and even proposed herself to give her some lessons when there was no one at work.

Like pretty much everyday, Cassie started the book inventory. Every morning, she had to go through all the donations they were given in the last few days and find a place for them on the shelves of the café. It was her favorite part of her job, as she was able to go through all the new books they got during the last few days and create sections for her favorite authors and genres. She was looking at them, one by one, reading their content and entering the data about their authors and their category in the computer. Hours were always flying by when she was doing that and she couldn’t wait to finish her day so she could actually try to read them herself before making them available to the public.

It was almost 3 P.M. when Nova called her to get some help. A big line of customers was forming and her best friend wasn’t able to handle the cash at the same time as preparing all the coffees. Putting her apron over her uniform, consisting of a blue and white stripe shirt and a black skirt with thigh-high socks, she started greeting customers at the counter with a delicate smile. 

Panting from a long run, Gladio stopped to look at the time on his phone. 3:15 P.M. It was almost time for him to head out to Noct’s like he told Ignis earlier. The sun was hot and he couldn’t bear the sensation of the heat anymore. Walking a bit down the street, he noticed a cute little book café on the corner. The building had always been there, but even if his run was always leading him here, he never noticed this place before today. As he walked by, he couldn’t help but stop in front, as if something was pushing him to go inside. Was it the fact that he could really use a new book to enjoy? Or the sign at the front door announcing their new 100% fruit smoothies? Or some moment inside to enjoy the AC before heading outside again in the stifling heat of the day? Before he could even answer his own questions, his feet drove him right inside the café..

A young woman greeted him and his gaze went down to look at her, answering with a smile, without really paying attention. “How may I help you?” she asked, probably seeing the confused look in his face. Gladio snapped out of his thoughts, answering the employee.

“Hi, sorry! Hum, this is the first time I come here actually. I’ll take a large smoothie and uh, are all the books here available to read?” The young woman started to laugh and the sounds resonated like music to his ears. He took the time to actually look at her, captivated. She had a soft face, illuminated by big pale-blue eyes and framed by hair so bright they almost looked silver in the sunlight.

“Alright, a large smoothie and… yes! All the books here are available for our customers to enjoy. Our library is growing everyday as we accept donations and buy new ones weekly. You can take some time to look at them while we’re preparing your order if you’d like!” Gladio couldn’t stop looking at her while she was explaining him how their little shop was working, captivated by her eyes and the sweet sound of her voice. It took her 5 minutes to walk away and come back with a large smoothie in her hand, handing it to him.

“There you go! Hope you have a good day and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask me!” His gaze descended on her hands, in which she was holding his drink. He reached out to take it, his eyes stopping on a strange mark on her wrist. He could see the tattoo very clearly as it was embracing the font of her hands with delicate flowers intertwining with vines. He recognized the flowers almost immediately, as they were the ones he was names after. Not realizing he was staring, two letters caught his attention: “G.A.”

Feeling the awkwardness settling by staring too long, Gladio just took his drink and smiled at the girl. “I’ll come back for sure when I have more time. Thank you, um…?”

The silver-haired girl look at him with a confused look, just before understanding his question. “Oh! Cassiopeia. But you can call me Cassie! See you soon, then!”

Cassiopeia.

The name resonated in his head as he stepped out of the café. Gladio stopped in front of the entrance door, still puzzled by the scene that just happened. A strange sensation took over him as he took off his bracelet, hiding his left wrist. Underneath his leather cuff, at the exact same place as the girl’s, was a mark. His soulmate mark, made up of a constellation he identified long ago and 2 letters: Cassiopeia, and “C.L.” It only took him one second to make the math in his head, feeling a rush of panic engulfing him. There was only two possibilities, one of them being an incredible coincidence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Two chapter yeaaaaah.  
> I finally feel like the story is going somewhere and I caaan't wait for them to meet already. Probably won't happen for a couple of chapter, but trust me, I have a lot of ideas! This is the revamp version of Chapter 2, updated on May 25th. I didn't change a lot, just a couple of grammar and/or typos that were annoying me.

Gladio stepped inside Noctis’ apartment, more than an hour late, not greeting any of them and heading straight for the living room. Dinner was already on the table, the guys eating happily while Ignis was slowly drinking a can of Ebony. Of course, arriving this late drew their attention on him. He just waved at them, and dropped on the couch, as Ignis brought him a plate and sat down beside him.

“Thanks Iggy” he said, taking big bites in his plate. Evenings at Noct’s were always great mostly because food was always excellent. Ignis was quite the chef and loved experimenting new recipes with the rest of them.

Prompto looked at him curiously, his mouth full. “Hey Big Guy! You look like you just saw a ghost. Something’s going on with you?”  
“Meh, nothing important.”Gladio just shrugged it off, really not in the mood for a conversation about his day.

The prince and his best friend exchanged a look, wondering what the hell was happening on with him. Something clearly disturbed him, but forcing Gladio to talk about his feelings was never a good idea. Noctis decided not to push it, as he knew well enough that his friend didn’t really like when they were bugging him about his personal problems, but it sure wasn’t like him to be moping around like that. Normally, he wouldn’t even show that something was bothering him. He was good at pretending that everything was fine and before they even knew that he had an actual problem, it was already settled.

Darkness fell on Insomnia’s sky as the night was settling in. Prompto and Noctis decided to play some King’s Knight to finish the day while Gladio grabbed a beer and went outside for some fresh air. Ignis followed him a couple of minutes after, leaning on the balcony railing, looking at the horizon. The city was truly beautiful at night and the sight was soothing. Standing there in silence, the advisor realised he wasn’t gonna get any answers from his friend unless he dared asking.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on or do you prefer that I let you pretend that everything is fine?” he finally questioned. “ Because if you do so, I’ll ask you to please refine your acting skills.” Gladio let out a chuckle at his friend’s remark. Of course he noticed, and the other guys too. He wasn’t trying to hide it, not this time. He just didn’t knew how to even talk about this.

“Did you find your soulmate, Iggy?” he simply asked.  
His friend looked at him, surprised by the question. “You’re talking about those soulmate marks?” Gladio just nodded. “I’m afraid not. Why do you wonder all of a sudden?”

The Shield simply took off his cuff, showing his mark. “Because I think I found mine.” Ignis moved to sit beside him, looking at the tattoo on his wrist. It was subtle, but it was detailed enough so that he knew it was definitely the said soulmark. Ignis remembered stories he was told as he was little, about how everyone bears a mark corresponding to someone else’s. It was supposed to be representative of their significant other. Gladio’s was made of small little stars, connecting together by tiny dots, exactly like a constellation. It was actually pretty easy to figure out which one it was. He could also clearly see the two letters written there that were supposed to be his soulmate’s initials.

“Are you sure?” He finally asked. “I thought you didn’t believe in this.”  
Gladio put back his cuff, sighing heavily. “I saw her, Ignis. She works in a little book café downtown. I felt like the world stopped turning, like I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I saw her mark too. It was flowers, Gladioluses, with my initials.”

Ignis readjusted his glasses on his nose. “Well, I heard marks starts changing when you meet your soulmate. It evolves, like a painting on a canvas. A little bit the same way they’re really small when we’re young and they get bigger every year until adulthood. Did you noticed anything different in yours?”

Gladio shook his head. His mark was already pretty simple. Plus, he only met Cassiopeia a couple of hours ago. Was it changing instantly or over the days? Ignis seemed to know a lot more about soulmarks, most probably because Gladio never really cared about it until today. He was always so focused on his work. He never thought meeting his soulmate would disturb him that much.

“Apparently, colors and details start appearing on it when you’ve been in contact with your soulmate. Keep an eye on that, I’ll do some research in the meantime.”  
The tall man flashed a smile at his best friend. “Thanks Specs, I knew I could count on you. We’ll keep in touch.”

 

Gladio didn’t hear about his soulmate for a couple of days. He invested himself in his duty and started training more than ever, trying his best to forget about what happened at the little café. He did as Ignis said, patiently waiting for him to come back to him while he watched his mark closely, investigating any sign of it changing. He thought he could see more stars appear, but since he never noticed how many they were before he met Cassie, he made no big deal out of it and tried to forget about it all. He was pretty successful, until, one night, he finally got the text message he was waiting for.

“I think I got some pretty interesting news you might want to hear about. Meet me at Noct’s.” It was coming from Ignis. Gladio’s heart started racing in his chest as that same feeling of nervousness took over him. He was feeling exactly like he did when he left the book café, right after meeting Cassiopeia, right after seeing his soulmate.

He headed up to the prince’s apartment like he was told, stepping in without knocking. It was pretty much his second home now and he was spending most of his time with his best friends here. After Noctis moved out of the castle, his new place became their headquarters. Of course, Ignis was already there, with no sign of the two others yet. He figured they were still at the arcade by that time and they wouldn’t take much time to get back anyway.

“So, what do you have for me, Specs?” Gladio asked, heading in the kitchen where Ignis was cleaning the prince’s mess, some pastries already in the oven. The heavenly smell was filling the whole apartment. “You know you should let him do that? He’s never gonna learn if you’re always picking up after him.”

Ignis acted as if he didn’t hear his last comment and led him in the living room, taking out a piece of paper he had carefully folded from the inside pocket of his suit. He handed it to Gladio after both of them sat on the couch. “Is it the young lady you’re looking for?”

The Shield took the piece of paper and looked at it carefully. On it, every information he could ever dreamed about his mysterious soulmate was written. He read everything in silence, his gaze meeting Ignis’ only when he was done. “You know Ignis, I’m terrified to know how you get all these information and even more about what you know about me that I don’t. You’d be a perfect spy.”

Voices from the outside interrupted them. Prompto and Noctis came back from school, the blonde one expressing his relief quite loudly as he dropped his backpack in the hall, right beside his shoes. “Finally dooooone. Let’s eat and play!” They soon appeared in the living room, Prompto letting himself fall on the couch beside Gladio. “Hey what’s that?” he asked, noticing the piece of paper in his hands. Without even asking, he took it and started reading the first lines out loud.

“Cassiopeia Lilium, 22 years old. She lives downtown and work at a book café, studies literature …. Is it how you get the infos for the girls you flirt with, Big Guy?” Prompto teased him, just before Gladio punched his arm and took the paper back, folding it again and putting it in his pocket.

“It’s not, and I’m not trying to flirt with anyone” he said, standing up. He hesitated a bit, then finally admitted what was happening with him. “This girl… has a tattoo with my name on her wrist. Turns out I have one with hers.”

“Wow, so you found your soulmate?” Noctis added. “I never thought you’d be the first to find her. I was betting on Prom, he’s obsessed with it.” The prince joined the other guys on the couch, folding his arms on his chest. “So… what are you gonna do about it?”

 

* * *

 

 It took a few days for Cassie to see her mark starting to change. It was only after she took her shower, putting the dress shirt of her uniform that she noticed colors, warm tones of orange and purple, coloring outside the outline of the flowers like a watercolor painting. She scrubbed her eyes, wondering how she never saw it before. How long has it been like that? When did it started to change like this? Was it supposed to mean anything special?

She tried to forget about it as she headed to work. She was opening the shop with Nova, as usual. Altair was still sleeping, so she just decided to go on her own and let him rest while he could. As she arrived in front of the café, Nova was already there, unlocking the door.

“Good morning, sunshine! We just got a bunch of donations today! Can you grab them? I’ll let you the pleasure of opening them to discover all the possibly great things we got!” Cassie smiled at her best friend and grabbed the books as she asked her, following her closely behind. “Of course, you know it’s my favorite thing to do.”

Cassie dropped the heavy pile of books on the counter near the computer where she was usually working and started looking at the packages. One caught her attention immediately: it was carefully wrapped in brown paper with nothing but a note with her name on it. Who could possibly want to give her a book? And why leave it at the door of the café in the morning instead of handing it directly to her during one of her shifts?

She opened the wrapping to discover an authentic first-print of a very old classic. Cassie was totally amazed by the quality of the book, but also terrified to hold such a rare and expensive book in her hands. She anxiously flipped the pages, brushing the tips of her fingers over them, as if it could break if she wasn’t delicate enough. As she turned them, a letter fell on the counter, breaking the trance she got caught up into.

Nova noticed the letter and moved beside her friend to look at what was going on. Cassie took the letter in her hands, feeling her heart beat fast and hard in her chest. She couldn’t tell why she got so nervous all of a sudden but he feeling was so strong and it made her feel sick. She opened the letter with trembling hands and what she discovered inside made her drop it on the floor as she froze. Her eyes went totally blank and she felt like passing out. Nova rushed by her side, taking the letter immediately, only to discover a picture of someone’s wrist with a soulmark made of a constellation with two letters, C and L. She flipped the picture to read the note written on the backside, gasping as she read the lines carefully.

_“Hi. I know it may sounds weird, but I think you’re my soulmate._

_I don’t know how all this is supposed to work but… if you think my mark corresponds to you, maybe you could answer me back by leaving a note in this book?_

_Oh, this is one of my favorite novel. I thought you could enjoy it._

_G.A.”_

 


End file.
